Justice Department won’t investigate Stockley

Justice Department won’t investigate Stockley

Former St. Louis Officer Jason Stockley

The U.S. Department of Justice says it will not open a new civil rights investigation into the fatal shooting of a black suspect by a white former St. Louis policeman, one day after the officer was acquitted in the case.

The had of the NAACP St. Louis on Friday called for President Donald Trump and the Justice Department to investigate Jason Stockley. A judge ruled Friday that Stockley was innocent in the 2011 shooting death of 24-year-old Anthony Lamar Smith. The acquittal set off raucous protests that continued into Saturday.

Justice Department spokeswoman Lauren Ehrsam says the department previously looked at the case in 2012 and decided not to prosecute, and again in 2016 after charges were filed in St. Louis. Ehrsam says the Civil Rights Division concluded the evidence did not support prosecution under criminal civil rights statutes.